Kunoichi
by BeadleJuice
Summary: Alive!Minato. Tadashi Hotaru's life had never really been that hard. Sure, she'd been in a fire and kids liked to pick on her...and half her family was dead but that wasn't too bad, right? She had great parents and three younger siblings. Then she graduates and gets put on a team with her two idiotic friends, Naruto and Sasuke, along with her cousin Kikyo. Fun right?
1. Tadashi Hotaru

_**Author's Note: This story is a collaboration with Lady Oracle12. Her Dragonball Z crossover, though it occurs primarily in Naruto, under the title "Lost". You don't have to read it to understand this story, but it**_ **will _help clarify a few points and give a broader understanding of the story as a whole. We will also both be writing companion stories that occur in the Dragonball Z universe. Hotaru - the main character in this story - will not appear in either of those stories; I will instead be writing for another OC named Tomoe, but I won't continue on that line._**

 ** _Warning: Spoilers if you don't yet know who Naruto's parents are - they are alive in this story. (Don't worry, we keep Naruto pretty true-to-form). These first few chapters are just an introduction to the changes we've made to the universe, the real plot doesn't get started until about the fifth chapter. (All of this follow-up_ is _necessary though)._**

 ** _Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I_ do _own Hotaru._**

 ** _Enjoy!_**

* * *

 **Kunoichi**

 _Tadashi Hotaru_

Inoue's brow furrowed as she stood in the kitchen, mixing ingredients for dinner. She wasn't thinking about the recipe – no, this was one she could make blindfolded with her nose plugged – but rather something far more important than food. She'd been feeling ill the last few days and had finally caved and went to the hospital to find out what was wrong. And boy had she been surprised. Not that she probably should have been…

The problem was that now she had to tell Bakuryuu and she wasn't sure how he would take it. Sure, the man was usually nice and bubbly and took things well, but this… well this was _big_. And she didn't know if he would feel ready or if he really _was_ ready. She finished mixing and preparing then put dinner in the oven and leaned back against the counter, thinking seriously over this issue. How did she even bring it up? What did she even say? Maybe she could ask Izumi…

"I'm home~!"

So asking Izumi was a no-go. Apparently there wasn't time for that.

"Inoue~? Where are you?"

"I'm in the kitchen!" she called in answer. Her voice was a bit squeaky and it made her want to hurt herself. She had better control than this dammit! She was a _jounin_!

"Are you all right?" Bakuryuu asked as he turned the corner into the main part of the house. His brow furrowed in worry and he started toward her. "You look pale. Did you go to the hospital today?"

"Mmhmm." Her voice was too high-pitched. Dammit, where did all her self-control go?!

Now the man looked worried. He grabbed her shoulders and looked in her eyes with a serious face the likes of which few would ever see on his face. "What did they say? Are you okay?" Slowly, she nodded. "Then why do you look so upset?"

And then Inoue realized that her concern was misplaced. It wasn't _Bakuryuu_ that she was worried about not being ready – despite appearances, he was actually great with kids – it was _her._ And she really didn't think she was ready for this. Not now, not yet. But her anxiety wouldn't change the facts of the matter so she marshalled up her courage, swallowed the lump in her throat, and answered, "I'm pregnant, Bakuryuu."

The man blinked once, twice. "Pregnant?" he echoed, seeming a bit started by this announcement. Inoue only nodded. "I'm gonna be a dad and you're going to be a mom?" Again, she nodded. "This is great news!" he exclaimed, swooping her up and spinning her around. "This is wonderful! Brilliant!" He settled her back on the ground and gave that beaming, infectious smile of his. "Darling, what could you be upset about?"

"I… I don't know if I…"

Bakuryuu cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. "You're going to be an incredible mom."

~ Jinchuriki ~

A very pregnant Inoue made her way up the unnecessarily tall flight of stairs toward the Hokage's office, using Bakuryuu as a prop to keep her from falling over. Man, pregnancy _sucked_. On the bright side, the torture was almost over. Soon, they would have a sweet baby girl to take home and care for.

But for now, the woman scowled at all the stairs and wondered what on earth could be so important that Minato would put her through this torture. Before she could ask, or say anything for that matter, she found herself swept up from the ground into her husband's arms. "Bakuryuu!" she spluttered, flustered.

He grinned. "Looky there, I swept you right off your feet!"

Inoue coughed out a laugh and shook her head, smacking his shoulder. "I was walking just fine, Bakuryuu."

"No you weren't~! Besides, I like carrying you." He grinned.

Inoue just shook her head. "What do you think Minato-kun wants with us?" she asked.

"I don't know, but it must be important if he asked for us to come see him instead of just dropping by. Plus you should call him Hokage-sama now, it's disrespectful." There was a slight gleam in the man's eyes and his lips twitched into a more mischievous version of his bubbly smile.

"Minato-kun is our friend so I'll call him by his name. Besides, he doesn't like being called Hokage-sama by his friends, you know that."

"Which is exactly why we should!" Bakuryuu proclaimed with a laugh.

Inoue spatted his arm. "Don't be mean to the poor man!"

"Ah, but it's fun~!" he whined. "Come on, you know you like seeing him flustered too."

The woman giggled. "True enough."

They quieted for a little while. "I hope it's good news," the man announced.

"When does the Hokage ever summon someone when it's good news?"

"When it's _really_ good news."

Inoue snorted and shook her head. "Your optimism is inspiring, love, but I don't think it's warranted here."

"Well neither is your pessimism. Do you really want bad news with the baby so close?"

"Close? Ugh, I _wish_ it was close. We still have _months_ left, Bakuryuu! And I didn't say I _want_ to hear bad news, I just _expect_ to."

It wasn't long after that that they arrived at the Hokage's office and the secretary let them in. "Minato-kun," Inoue greeted.

Bakuryuu took one look at the strain behind the blonde's smile and he deflated. "It's bad news, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry, I should have made you walk up all those stairs so late in your pregnancy," Minato apologized rather than answering. He stood and rounded the table to pull out Inoue's chair.

"It's definitely bad news," the woman grumbled, sitting tiredly in the offered chair. Bakuryuu sat down beside her and rubbed her leg consolingly. She set her jaw. "So how bad is it?"

The blonde grimaced slightly and any hope of it only being mildly bad fled Inoue's mind. Bakuryuu slumped further. "You remember the testing a few weeks ago? The ones we conducted in our search for a suitable host for the Sanbi?" Inoue paled and Bakuryuu frowned seriously, meaning both were aware of what he was referring to. Minato sighed, looking world-wary and exhausted. "In the entire village, there is only one compatible person that falls within the age-range best suited for becoming a Jinchuriki."

"No…" Inoue murmured, horrified as she wrapped her arms around her stomach. "You don't mean…" There were tears in her eyes now.

Minato's face was grave as he nodded. "Your child is that one person." Inoue buried her face in Bakuryuu's shoulder. "It's still your decision, of course. I have no right to take that from you. It's your child, not mine. You can say no."

"But if we do, chances are the Sanbi will break free and wreak havoc on the village."

"There is a chance I could find someone outside the favored age-range."

"But that presents its own problems," the other man countered.

Inoue pulled away and rubbed at her eyes, shaking her head. "We can't just put the village in danger like that. How could we ever live with ourselves? How would our daughter be able to look at us? As much as I want to say no, I can't. Not with knowing the consequences."

"I'm sorry," was Minato's response. Silence reigned.

~ Tadashi Hotaru ~

"Aw~ look at her~!" Bakuryuu cooed at the baby in his arms. Her pale eyes, one purplish and the other bluish, were way too big for her face which was scrunched up kinda funny. She had a little head full of short grass-green hairs, all stuck to her adorable little scalp, and teeny tiny hands and fingers. His nose was miniaturized and scrunched up on her little face. Her mother's cheekbones tried to make themselves known under her oversized eyes.

"Come here," Inoue instructed in a somewhat forceful voice. She reached toward him with tired arms, face showing her exhaustion.

"You need a nap," he told her, sitting down beside her and readjusting the infant so she could see her. "Who's that, Hotaru?" he cooed at the child who seemed content and confused. "Is that Mommy? It's Mommy. Say 'hi Mommy'." He took her little hand and made her wave.

Inoue chuckled. "Let me see her." She held out her arms for the infant.

"You sure you got her?"

"I'm sure." Bakuryuu gingerly handed the infant over to her tired mother who took her finger and gently traced the mark on the baby's stomach, the mark Bakuryuu had been trying his best to ignore. The baby made adorable little cooing sounds and smiled a little, comforted by the action. Inoue kissed her forehead. "I love you, my little Firefly."

The man smiled broadly and slid one arm behind his wife's back and the other under hers so her arms didn't get tired from holding the baby. Inoue snuggled into him and smiled contentedly for a while before drifting off to sleep. Bakuryuu stayed like that for a while before settling his daughter in the crook of one arm and laying his wife back in the bed so she could sleep more comfortably.

~ Jiraiya Saves a Life ~

At first, Bakuryuu was _convinced_ that their daughter took after her mother. She had to, as difficult as she was. The young couple were about ready to pull their hair out because she _wouldn't stop screaming_. It was driving them crazy, and they couldn't get any good advice from _anyone_. It was so bad that they hadn't even gotten to go see Mikoto and her new baby, Sasuke.

Then they found out that she was losing weight rapidly and there was speculation that being a Jinchuriki had exasperated the Tadashi disease, resulting in a Tadashi-Uchiha kind of child, and everyone knew those never lived. Whenever Minato or Kushina came by to visit, they both looked horribly guilty, but it wasn't their fault. How could it be? There was no way they could have known this.

The man's stomach seemed to be permanently twisted in anxiety. He could see on Inoue's face that she was feeling the same. They both got rather clingy and went out of their way to spend all the time they could with their baby girl, screaming little pain or not. But they couldn't push their responsibilities off forever, and the day came when both were called off to tend to said other responsibilities.

Usually one of them could manage to stay back and watch her but no wiggle room was given this time. It was bound to happen at some point. Which left them with the frustrating decision of who to leave her with. Minato was busy with his duties as Hokage and they didn't want to put the pregnant Kushina out. Ryunashi would be working with Bakuryuu and Izumi had Kitsune to watch. Inoue's father hadn't been getting around well since his encounter with that bomb that had put him out-of-commission and _obviously_ they couldn't leave her with his mother.

Granted, she was looking better and better until Jiraiya arrived. True, they didn't want to leave her with him either, but when forced to choose between the drunk and the pervert… well the pervert looked _way_ better. The man was a bit hesitant, but not given much choice as the two young parents left their daughter with him and hurried off.

Bakuryuu spent his day worrying over his daughter and hurrying through his work anxiously before his brother practically _threw_ him out of the building. But the younger brother wasn't complaining. He hurried straight home and was horrified to find that he wasn't greeted by the screaming baby that had been so constant in the last several weeks.

No. She couldn't have. Not… not when…

He practically tore the door off its hinges and hurried inside to find Jiraiya sitting perfectly calmly on the couch with a silent Hotaru in his lap and a book open in his hands.

What the fuck? Seriously, what the actual fuck?

Bakuryuu might have shouted that.

"What's wrong with you?" Jiraiya grumbled. "The kid just went to sleep." He glanced down at the infant in his arms who had a content expression on her little face, but she didn't awaken. "Good thing she's a heavy sleeper."

"Sleeping? I don't think she's…" He moved hurriedly to the man and leaned in close. Sure enough, the little girl's chest was moving slightly and every few times she'd make this little humming sound. "She's asleep. Peacefully."

"Duh. I don't see how Tatsuya could have raised such a stupid brat." He adjusted the infant as if expecting Bakuryuu to take her which he quickly did, staring at the infant in absolute amazement. Maybe Jiraiya was the God of Babies or something.

"How…?"

"What have you two been doing anyway? Starving the kid? She ate three whole bottles!"

"Three… you gave her three bottles?! Are you trying to make her sick? She must have spit it up everywhere!"

"Nope, didn't lose a drop." Jiraiya stood up and walked over to the bookcase, putting a book on the shelf. "She seemed to like the book too, so I'll let you keep it."

"What were you reading her?" Bakuryuu demanded, glaring accusatorially at the man and holding his sleeping daughter close.

"The book I wrote." _Oh God what—_ "It's called _Tales of a Gutsy Ninja_. Minato likes it, Kushina too, but it hasn't sold much. Those two actually said they'd name their son after the main character." The old man smiled affectionately at the book.

"Is… is it a pervert book?"

"What? No! What do you think I am?"

"A giant pervert?"

Jiraiya just snorted. "Well I watched your brat, you can have her now. I have some important… business to attend to."

"You mean peeping!" Bakuryuu accused.

The man looked at him and lifted an eyebrow. "And?"

"You can't just—" Jiraiya ignored the spluttering man and started toward the door. "But I— But you— and he's gone."

Hotaru woke up a couple of hours later and cried so Bakuryuu decided to take a page out of Jiraiya's book and feed her until she shut up. She ate two and a half bottles. Then she was all smiles and giggles and contentment. The father felt like he could cry in happiness. Maybe they just weren't feeding her enough. Maybe-maybe she would start to gain her weight back. Maybe… maybe she would live to a nice old age. Like thirty.

Inoue would warn him not to get his hopes up but he couldn't help it. He hoped with his whole heart that his princess was going to grow into a nice, healthy young woman.

When the mother got home, she had her own moment of astonishment before she warned Bakuryuu just as he knew she would. But he could see it in her eyes: she was hoping too.

~ Lullaby ~

It turned out that their hoping wasn't fruitless. After a few days, Hotaru evened out at a full bottle (and sometimes half of another) and began gaining her weight back. She went from being a screaming, crying pain-in-the-ass to a sweet little cooing, giggly angel. Bakuryuu was quickly overly enamored. He carried the baby all over the house, cooing and bouncing and singing. Inoue laughed at him, and she would take Hotaru away and say "don't corrupt my poor sweet daughter with your goofiness" or "don't torture poor Hotaru with that awful excuse for singing." She would do just about the same thing he would, except she didn't sing.

But sometimes if Hotaru woke up in the middle of the night, he could hear Inoue sing her a quiet little lullaby to put her back to sleep. It was always the same one too. He'd even learned the words.

 _"In the warm summer night,  
They show their tiny lights  
Shining so bright, A wonderful delight  
Magical they seem, Through the soft moonbeams  
They sparkle and gleam, So beautiful to see_

 _Fireflies, fireflies, glowing in the night  
Flickering, shimmering like stars in the sky  
I go outside to watch them fly and what do I see?  
A firefly, firefly glowing just for me_

 _The moon shines above, The summer winds blow  
What do you think of, When the fireflies glow  
Magical they seem, Through the soft moonbeams  
They sparkle and gleam, So beautiful to see_

 _Fireflies, fireflies, glowing in the night  
Flickering, shimmering like stars in the sky  
I go outside to watch them fly and what do I see?  
A firefly, firefly glowing just for me_

 _Firefly, firefly, how I love you so  
Flickering, shimmering your tiny glow  
I love to watch you in the night, so bright and happy  
Please come back tomorrow night and visit me  
Please come back tomorrow night and visit me _

_Firefly, firefly, how I love you so."_

~ Babysitter ~

The first time Izumi watched Hotaru was quite a ways into her pregnancy. Bakuryuu had been against it, not wanting to put the woman out in her condition, but he ceded when he learned that Ryunashi would be there as well.

He didn't expect to return to the Tadashi compound and find a screaming Hotaru, a frustrated Ryunashi, and a teary-eyed Izumi. The woman was practically howling and the man looked ready to shake the infant.

Bakuryuu snatched his daughter away from him before he could and Inoue looked ready to do the same. The four month old looked up at her father and her crying quieted a bit, her lips trembling pitifully and her face all red. "Oh my poor baby," he cooed. "Were these strange people mean to you? Oh my poor sweet baby."

"Ba!" she whined.

"Are you hungry, Angel? Here, let Daddy make you a ba." The baby settled, eyes still teary and lips still trembling. She didn't cry though. They'd built up quite a bit of trust in the 'ba' area.

"I just fed her!" Izumi whaled. "She can't be hungry!"

"How much did you give her?" Bakuryuu asked, pausing and bouncing the infant. Maybe she needed some baby food instead of a bottle?

"I gave her a whole bottle!"

"That's it?"

"What do you mean that's it?! She's only four months old, Bakuryuu! That's more than enough! Tell him, Inoue!"

"That's not enough," the green haired woman countered, shaking her head.

"Not for Hotaru," Bakuryuu added. "She eats at least three, sometimes a fourth."

"That's ridiculous!"

"I know," he answered, fixing a bottle with one hand. "She's got a monster appetite. She'll probably nearly eat us out of house and home when she gets bigger. Yes s'e will. Yeah. My sweet Hotaru is a li'l piggy." He nuzzled her forehead while he shook the formula up the plopped it in her mouth. The baby settled in contentedly, sucking away at her bottle.

"This is ridiculous, Bakuryuu! You're going to make her sick!" Izumi scolded, reaching for the bottle. When he dodged, she turned to Inoue. "Stop him! He's going to make her sick!"

"He's fine, Izumi," the younger mother responded calmly.

"They're the ones that have to deal with it. If they want to make her sick, let them learn the hard way!"

"But what about poor Hotaru? I can't let them be this irresponsible!"

"Izumi, stop it," there was a sharp note in Inoue's voice when she spoke, looking the other woman in the eye. "I don't need you to tell me how much to feed my daughter. I'm the one that feeds her, Bakuryuu too."

"You both clearly know nothing about children! No wonder she howled so much!"

"Izumi, do you remember when Hotaru first came home?" Inoue demanded, crossing her arms.

"Huh?"

"When we first brought Hotaru home, she was impossible. Screaming all the time, losing weight… remember how everyone was saying that it was the Tadashi disease? That the Sanbi was reacting badly with it?"

Izumi's face grew more serious and startled. Why would the other mother bring up what was no doubt a horrible time for her?

"Well it turns out that we were actually starving her. We owe Jiraiya-sensei; he's the only one that thought to feed her until she stopped howling. Those first couple of weeks our _newborn_ would eat _at least_ two nine-ounce bottles before she finally gained enough weight back and settled at a full nine-ounce bottle. That's how much she ate until it was about time to move a normal infant from two to four and then she started taking two. Now she'll take three as long as we make sure to give her some baby food too. Hotaru's metabolism is simply ridiculously fast. She's special, and _I_ would know. She's _my_ baby. So please stop telling me what she needs and doesn't need."

Things got a little quiet after Inoue's little speech. Izumi looked a little hurt but didn't protest their 'over' feeding their daughter. Bakuryuu leaned in close to his wife and was greeted with a sharp, "I'm not apologizing."

"I wasn't going to say anything actually," Bakuryuu told her. "Well except ask if you could hand me that burp cloth 'cause I can't reach it…" Inoue blinked then looked to the side and grabbed the burp cloth and gave it to him. "Thanks sweety."

After that day, Izumi made sure to heed Inoue and Bakuryuu's word when it came to Hotaru, having found that it tended to work better than trying to treat the infant like any other one.

~ Uzumaki Naruto ~

Hotaru was just shy of being four months old when a disaster struck the village. The day had started normal enough, it was even nice. The infant was having a 'play date' with Sasuke – really just an excuse so their mothers could talk and socialize. To be perfectly honest, Itachi and Kitsune did most of the watching, but we aren't supposed to tell people that.

Anyway, the danger was suddenly brought to their attention in the middle of the night. The ground shook, almost like an earthquake but not quite. Then a terrifying roar shook the walls of the house they were in. "Kitsune! Itachi! Get the babies inside and hide! Now!"

The two children were frozen in fear, but the order jerked them out of it. They each picked up a baby and rushed to do as they were told, cradling the babies close. Sasuke was crying but Hotaru just had a funny, perturbed look on her face like she was entirely sure but she might should be frightened.

Inoue wondered if the Sanbi had something to do with that, but had no way of knowing. Besides, she had more important things to worry about – like what the hell was attacking the village?

She and Mikoto made it to the door before Fugaku pushed them back inside, yelling at them to stay put and watch the kids. He didn't push them soon enough that they had missed the giant, nine-tailed beast just past the edge of the village. Its head was tilted back as it howled in anger and frustration.

Perhaps it was a trick of the light, or Inoue imagining things, but she could almost _swear_ she had seen a Sharingan eye. But that couldn't be right! An Uchiha wouldn't have unleashed a tailed beast on the village!

…Right?

Inoue spent the rest of the night between frustration and fear. Her village was in danger and all she could do was sit back and watch her children. Mikoto and the very pregnant Izumi – who had arrived shortly after Fugaku had told them to stay – were in no better shape.

When she was frustrated about not being able to help or worrying over who did this and why, she found herself thinking over the reason her stomach was twisted into knots: Bakuryuu. She hadn't seen him since that morning, didn't know if he'd rushed into battle – but knowing him, he probably had – or if he was just helping people evacuate – also a strong possibility. She knew he was strong, but it was hard sometimes to remember that her goofball of a husband wasn't someone who would die so easily.

Really, who could blame her for worrying over a man that had once ran around screaming because a cat had attached itself to his head?

Soon – but not soon enough in the woman's opinion – the fight was over. Minato had finally arrived and sealed the biju safely away…

Into his newborn son. Inoue knew he was probably far too worried and upset about it, not that she could really blame him. She'd been practically frantic over it happening to Hotaru.

Naruto was the boy's name. Namikaze Naruto. Minato had decided months ago to name him after the main character in sensei's novel, the one he liked to sit and read to Hotaru because it made her giggle.

As for Bakuryuu, he was perfectly fine of course. Well except that he'd somehow managed to get half his hair sheared off. He was almost in tears over it, poor thing.

~ Tadashi Kikyo ~

Hotaru was exactly six months old when Izumi had her baby, a little girl she named Kikyo. Her vocabulary had extended far beyond the limited range it had been two months prior. She was crawling well too and trying to learn to walk.

"Wanna go see the baby, Hotaru?" Inoue asked her daughter, kneeling in front of the near-toddler who was sitting in her playroom floor… playing.

"I baby," the child responded, looking adorably confused.

"The _other_ baby."

"Ober?" Hotaru tilted her head, looking more confused now.

"Yes, your new cousin. Kikyo."

"Ki… key-k…" Hotaru's face scrunched up and finally she apparently decided to give up. "Kyo?"

"Kikyo," Inoue spoke slowly, enunciating each syllable.

"Key-key-oh," Hotaru repeated, saying each syllable as if it were its own word.

"Now faster. Kikyo."

"Kyo."

"No, sweety. Kikyo."

"Kyo."

"You guys coming?" Bakuryuu asked, appearing in the door.

"Go see Kyo!" Hotaru proclaimed proudly, holding her hands up to him.

Inoue's hand attached itself to her face, but Bakuryuu melted. "Yeah, let's go see Kyo!" he cooed, hurrying to his daughter only for his face to be quickly greeted by the floor thanks to a punch to the back of the head via Inoue.

"Don't encourage her mispronunciations!" she snapped.

Hotaru laughed. "Da-y go dow~n!" she giggled, grinning broadly.

"You're not supposed to laugh at Daddy getting hurt~!" Bakuryuu whined.

"Yes you are," Inoue responded with a smile, picking up her daughter. "Let's put you on some clean clothes."

"Boo!" Hotaru proclaimed.

"No blue, sorry."

"Aw~!" she whined, pouting.

"I'll go buy—"

"Bakuryuu!" He hushed. "Good boy. No blue, Hotaru."

"Eh-ow!"

"Say it right," Inoue said, serious look on her face.

"Ehwow?" the child tried.

"Yellow," the mother corrected.

"Ewhoa," Hotaru echoed.

"I guess you're too young for your 'y's and your 'l's so I'll give it to you."

"Yay!"

Inoue gave her another look. "What did you just say?"

"…way?"

"Say. It. Right."

"Ye-yewhoa."

"Good girl. Soon enough we're gonna teach you your 'l's and then you'll have it down." Inoue carried her daughter to the child her room and fished through her drawer for an outfit in the decided color. She found a yellow shirt with the Senju symbol on the back and Uzumaki swirls on the arms – both in black – and a pair of black pants before dressing the child.

"She looks like a bee~!" Bakuryuu whined, holding the child at arms' length and pouting at her. Hotaru made a sad face. "But she's a beautiful bee!" he added quickly. "A beautiful, stunning bee in her yellow and black." He pulled her close to his chest and rocked her back and forth.

"Da-y! Dizzy!" she whined.

The father stopped and kissed her forehead. "Sorry, princess."

"Let's get going sweety." Inoue smiled and settled the diaper bag over her shoulder. She held her hands out to Hotaru but the child grabbed onto her father's shirt and snuggled in.

Bakuryuu laughed. "I think that means I'm the favorite~!"

"That's because you spoil her," the mother grumbled, crossing her arms as they started toward the door. She locked it behind them.

"Maybe if you lightened up on her talking…" Bakuryuu trailed off at the look he received.

"If she _can_ say it right then she _should_. I don't mean to teach her bad habits and you shouldn't either." Inoue crossed her arms and scowled.

The man leaned over and kissed her temple. "Inoue, she's only six months old. She had plenty of time to figure out how to say words correctly."

"If we let her develop bad habits then it'll just be more work for later when we have to break them. It's better to teach her correctly now then to worry about fixing it down the road."

"If you say so."

"It'd help if you didn't encourage her to say things incorrectly."

"I don't!"

"Yes you do. You coo about how adorable she is every time and you know it."

Bakuryuu pouted. "Da-y sad," Hotaru announced. "Don't be sad! Happy!"

"Yes ma'am," he answered with a chuckle, giving her a smile.

"Happy Da-y! Happy Mama!" Inoue laughed.

It didn't take them long to reach the main house of the Tadashi compound. Inoue was about to knock when Bakuryuu just threw the door open and strolled in as if he still lived there. His wife gave him her most frustrated expression but walked inside and closed the door behind them. "We're here~!" the man called into the house.

Kitsune appeared in a doorway with her hands on her hips. "Oji, you're supposed to knock first. And don't shout! Mama is sleeping."

"Oh. Sorry," he murmured quietly.

"Ki-nay," Hotaru greeted with a broad grin.

"Hey, Hotaru," Kitsune greeted.

"Did we come at a bad time?" Inoue asked.

The girl shrugged. "Papa said you were coming."

"See Kyo?" Hotaru asked.

" _Kikyo_ ," her mother corrected.

"Yeah, Papa has her. Come on." Kitsune motioned for them to follow then turned and made her way down the hall, Bakuryuu chattering away as he and his wife followed.

Hotaru was perfectly fascinated with Kikyo. She got along with her well and didn't seem to be jealous of the attention the newborn got at all.

Until Bakuryuu touched her. Then she started howling. "My Da-y! Bad baby! My Da-y!"

"Hotaru!" Inoue scolded. The younger man started to hand Kikyo back to her father. "Don't you dare put her down." The man stiffened and looked horribly torn. "Hotaru, you hush right this second."

"My Da-y!" she howled.

Inoue spatted her leg. "Senju Hotaru, you hush right now. If Daddy wants to hold Kikyo, he can."

"My Da-y," she whimpered, eyes full of tears.

"Yes he is. But he's Kikyo's Oji just like Ryunashi is your Oji."

"But my Da-y."

"Hotaru~!" Bakuryuu whined. He shut up when Inoue gave him a look but she finally sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Fine, but you can't do this every time, Hotaru. Kikyo needs attention to."

That was all the younger brother needed to hear before giving the newborn back to her father and scooping up his pouty six month old.

"You're too spoiled for your own good," Inoue sighed.


	2. Fire

**Kunoichi**

 _Fire_

"Why the hell not?!" Inoue exclaimed. Her eyes flashed with anger, her hands balled into fists, and she glared daggers at the host who now looked ready to wet himself.

"B-b-b-because—" He stepped back and cleared his throat. "Because we don't want that demon in here!" He looked uneasily at the two year old hiding behind the woman's legs.

"DON'T YOU CALL MY DAUGHTER THAT!" she shrieked, going to take a swing at the man.

A hand caught her wrist, stopping it. The woman looked down at the person that had stopped her. It was a teenaged boy with long brown hair and a piece of hay sticking out of his mouth. "He's not worth it, Inoue-sensei."

"Your Power of Youth burns too strongly, Sensei! You must calm yourself or face dire consequences!" a black haired teen with a bowl cut and bushy eyebrows exclaimed enthusiastically.

"That's basically what Genma said, but without the idiotic exclamations," a third dark haired boy pointed out, adjusting a pair of sunglasses on his nose. "You could learn a thing or two about calming oneself down."

"Gemma! Gai! Eh-su!" Hotaru exclaimed with a wide smile around teary eyes and a slightly reddened nose.

The glasses-wearing boy scowled at the child. "Why is it that you can say their names fine, but mine you garble?"

"Three syllables, dude. She's just a kid," Genma pointed out, hands in his pockets. Ebisu huffed and scowled in another direction.

"Shiranui-san, Might-san, Ebisu-san, would you three like a table?" the host asked.

"Not here," Genma scoffed.

Inoue smiled. "They're lucky Bakuryuu's not here. I doubt there's a force in the world that could have stopped him."

Her three students exchanged a look and shuddered. The mother laughed. "I know somewhere we can go."

"Whewe?" the little girl asked curiously. "They won' wet me." She looked miserable at the idea.

"This isn't your fault, Hotaru," Inoue told the child seriously. "Those guys are all just idiots. You're my sweet little firefly, there's absolutely nothing wrong with you. Don't ever let anyone tell you different." Then she grinned. "Besides, I know for a fact this place will let us in."

"Dango?" the little girl asked, looking excited.

"Yep!" the woman answered with a grin.

"Yay!" the toddler cheered, face lighting up.

The woman laughed. "Do you three want to come?" she asked her former students. "My treat."

"Well if you're buyin'," Genma answered.

"Dango is not an appropriate mea—" Ebisu silenced himself at the look he received. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt this once," he muttered sheepishly.

"Yes! Let us refuel our Power of Youth with a sugary treat!"

They made their way to Fujiwara's a few streets over. The man's eyes lit up when they walked in. "Well if it isn't my favorite customers! Welcome back!"

"Fuji!" the toddler greeted brightly with a laugh as her mother put her on a barstool.

"I'm betting you want some dango, don't you kiddo?"

"Pwease!"

~ Hotaru and Naruto ~

Hotaru put her hands on her hips and scowled at her playmate. Mommy and Kushina-san were in the next room talking while Daddy and Minato-san were at work. Her little blonde playmate, Naruto, was a bit of an idiot though. And kinda loud.

"Come on! It'll be fun! Dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"No Naruto! We are _not_ painting the Hokage Monument!"

"Oh come on, it'll be fun!"

"I said no!"

"But Hotaru~!"

"No!"

"Fine! I'll do it myself!"

"Then I'll tell Mommy and Kushina-san!"

He paled immediately. "Or maybe we could play blocks. Hehe."

"I thought so."

~ Hotaru, Age 4 ~

"I said no!" Inoue hissed, glaring daggers at the man sitting in her living room. "My daughter will not be getting that damned seal and that's final! Now get the hell out of my house!"

"I guess we'll just have to take this up with the Hokage," the Hyuga answered coldly.

"Go right on ahead! I already talked to him, and he's agreed to let Hotaru be an exception."

The man puffed up, looking incredibly angry. Then he stood up. "Good night, Senju-san." Then he stormed out.

Inoue rolled her eyes. "Overdramatic jackass."

"Mommy?" the four year old Hotaru asked, standing in the doorway and looking up at her mother. She was rubbing her eyes.

"Oh I'm sorry, darling. Did I wake you up?" The girl walked forward and held up her hands, her mother scooping her up. "You're almost too big for this, Hotaru."

The girl laid her head on her mother's shoulder. "I'm thirsty," she mumbled.

"Well then let's get you a drink before I put you back to bed."

"Mmkay."

~ Two Months Later ~

The sound of shattering glass is what awoke Inoue from her sleep. She sat up and glanced at the other half of the bed only to shake her head. Bakuryuu wouldn't be there, he was off on that mission of his. Her brow furrowed and she frowned, climbing stealthily out of bed and heading toward the noise to see what had caused it. She stopped in Hotaru's room first, checking to make sure her sweet little angel was still fast asleep. She was. Then she stalked through the house with the silent, cautious steps of a shinobi. She had a kunai in her hand, just in case.

It wasn't until she got to the staircase that she saw the smoke. She hurried down in search of the cause, hoping she could put it out quickly, that no harm had really been done. More shattering glass met her ears and she saw her entire living room on fire. Smoke filled the air so thickly she couldn't see, forcing her to activate her Byakugan in order to get back up the stairs. She heard more shattering glass upstairs… near Hotaru's room.

"HOTARU!" she screamed, running up the stairs and hurrying toward her daughter's room.

The little girl was up now, looking around at the flames with large, frightened eyes. She was trapped in a corner and trembling. _Dammit, why couldn't I have had an affinity for Suiton?!_

"I'm coming, Hotaru! Mommy's coming!" she called. She braced herself and ran through the flames, ignoring the horribly painful burns on her arms and legs. She patted out some fire on her pajamas and scooped her frightened daughter up in her arms.

The woman looked around desperately – there was no going back the way she came, too much fire in the hall. And that crash, she'd bet it was the staircase collapsing. So she hurried to the broken window, doing her best to shield the child from the flames. She punched the rest of it out, not caring as it fell to the ground and shattered. The woman froze for a second, stunned to see that the entire compound was ablaze.

There was a sound in the hall, someone was coming to make sure the job was properly done.

She swallowed her panic and tilted her daughter's head up. "Hotaru? Hotaru listen to me! I need you to be brave for me, okay? You have to go out the window and when you get to the ground run straight for the exit, you understand? Don't look back and don't wait on me, just run."

"But—"

"I'll be right behind you." Then she did something she hated herself for having to do: she threw her daughter out the window. She could hear the girl shriek in fear and watched for a horrified second as the girl landed on the ground and rolled. It looked like she'd gotten hurt real bad… "RUN HOTARU!"

The child got unsteadily to her feet and then did what her mother asked. The pain in Inoue's heart eased a bit and she turned around, pulling her kunai up and glaring at the door. When it was knocked open, she was stunned to see black hair and pale eyes – a Hyuga.

There was only one thing on her mind: _why_?

~ Hotaru ~

Pain. Everything hurt. Like a lot. Her arms and legs, her sides, her head even! And she was scared. There was fire everywhere… and smoke… _Mommy? Where's Mommy?_

She was lost now, everywhere she looked there was only fire and smoke. She couldn't see, couldn't navigate, and it was just making her more and more scared. _Where's Mommy?_

She was surrounded by fire, she couldn't get out. And she couldn't breathe either – too much smoke. She was coughing and stumbling and crying and she didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to get to the exit, how to do what Mommy said. There was just too much fire…

She stumbled and fell to her knees. She wasn't sure she could last much longer. _I have to get out of here! I have to! Mommy will be worried! I must have gotten turned around, that's why I haven't found her! But to get out, I need to get rid of the fire…_

"Hotaru? Hotaru!"

That was Daddy's voice! "Daddy!" she shouted, standing still and looking around. Where was he? She'd barely had time to wonder before she found herself being scooped into a pair of strong arms and cradled protectively into her father's chest. "Daddy! I can't find Mommy!"

"Don't worry, Princess," he murmured. His arms shifted and he made a clone which he handed her off to. "I'll get Mommy and get you to safety. Okay?"

She nodded and snuggled into her father's clone's chest. It smelled like water which meant it wouldn't be able to take her all the way to the hospital but it would get her out of the compound, out of the fire. So she clung tightly to it, hoping her Mommy and Daddy would be okay.

~ Bakuryuu ~

Bakuryuu had come home from his mission early. He was exhausted, had run all night. He'd considered taking a break and sleeping for the night, but had ultimately decided that he'd rather sleep in his own bed a little sooner than get an uneasy night's sleep in dangerous territory.

It was a damn good thing he did. He strolled to the stairs leading up the Hokage monument toward the Senju Compound – though they had taken the Tadashi name, they were currently staying with the Senju because of a little accident Hotaru had gotten into a couple of months ago at their house that had left it (and part of the compound) a little… unlivable. It was currently being repaired and renovated, so they were staying at a house Inoue's family owned.

It was just as he was starting up that he saw the smoke. It wasn't a chimney kind of smoke but the large, billowy kind that came from a house fire. Actually, there was enough of it for half the compound to be on fire.

Shit shit shit! He started running, taking the steps two or three at a time before deciding to screw it and run straight up the monument.

He had thought he'd never be so furious as he was when he came over the top and saw that the entire compound was on fire.

He quickly found out he was wrong when he saw Hotaru running around, lost and scared and confused in the midst of the fire and the smoke. He quickly scooped his daughter up and reassured her, passing her off to a clone so he could go get Inoue. It was best that the stronger form went to the place that was probably more dangerous after all.

He found out he was wrong again when he got to his house and sensed a fight going on upstairs on unsteady floors – in Hotaru's room no less. His hand gripped Naraku and he leaped, clearing the first floor in that single bound and lunging through the window, the vicious blade swinging out and plunging deep into his victim's stomach – a Hyuga. His arm wrapped protectively around his wife's abdomen and he pulled her close and back a little. He twisted the sword which probably hurt like hell before pulling it free and letting the skin around the wound rot slowly and painfully away.

The man pulled his wife toward the window and she jumped through it. He was about to follow only for his eyes to catch sight of an oversized white bear with a little fire in its fur. He grabbed it spontaneously and brought it out the window with him. "We have to find— What the hell, Bakuryuu?!"

"What?" He glanced at the bear and smiled. "It's Hotaru's favorite!"

"Whatever. We need to find Hotaru."

"Done, she's already outside the compound." He handed off the bear and pointed. "Head straight that way and you'll get to her. My clone has her."

"What about you?"

"Someone has to start putting out this fire and pulling people out! And seeing as I'm the Suiton user…"

"Fine, but be careful." She moved forward and gave him a quick kiss. "And thanks for saving me, but I could have saved myself."

"I know."

Her lips quirked up into a ghost of a smile. "So long as you know." Then she turned and took off while he smiled and watched for a moment. He shook his head and turned, hurrying off to his own task.

~ Family ~

Thanks to the fact that she was a Tadashi, Hotaru didn't spend very long in the hospital with her little burns. Inoue spent a little bit longer, but soon she was healed up too. Their house in the Tadashi Compound still wasn't ready yet though so they were going to be staying with Ryu-oji and Izumi-oba and Kitsune and Kikyo.

Hotaru wasn't exactly excited about this, but she wasn't really given a choice either.

The grumbling on the other side of the door when they walked up to the main estate of the Tadashi Compound signified that she wasn't the only one displeased with this development. "Do we _have_ to let _Oji_ and _Hotaru_ stay here, Papa?" Kikyo was whining.

"Your mother says we do," he answered calmly.

"But aren't _you_ the boss, Papa?"

"Your mother says I'm not."

"And you're just going to let her tell you that?" Kikyo demanded.

"It's only a few weeks, Kikyo."

"A few _weeks_?!" she exclaimed, clearly not happy with that. "Dammit!"

"Tadashi Kikyo!" Izumi's voice shouted from further into the house.

"Oops. Sorry Mama!"

"Ryunashi how dare you teach her that language?!"

"How is this my fault?! She said it!"

"Daddy, I think it's a bad time," Hotaru announced, looking up at her father who had a few bags pulled over his shoulder.

"Nah!" he answered with a grin and a laugh, pushing the door open.

"But… but I think it's a bad time…" she mumbled.

"Your father just has trouble reading situations sometimes, Hotaru," Inoue told the girl, patting her head.

"He can be kinda stupid."

"I know. Come on, let's go save him before Izumi turns _him_ into dinner."

Hotaru giggled at the joke and took the hand her mother offered, walking with her inside. "Hi— was very wrong about this," he shouted the greeting but hedged into a mutter, glancing at his wife and daughter sheepishly. Kikyo and Izumi were glaring at him with their hands on their hips and Ryunashi was giving him his best glare like 'why the hell are you even here'.

Kitsune's laugh directed their attention toward the doorway off to the side. "Come on, I'll show you guys to the rooms we set up while Okasan finishes yelling at Otosan." She motioned for them to follow and Hotaru quickly did, Inoue ushering her husband right after her.

"Here we are, Hotaru!" Bakuryuu suddenly exclaimed, bounding ahead to a certain door. "This is where you're going to be staying."

"How do you know, Daddy?"

"Because I helped Izumi set it up!" he announced proudly. "Go on and open the door."

It was _really_ pretty. The walls were a pretty, light purple with little butterflies painted on the walls. The windows were a little high but let in a lot of light with short curtains around them and the frames painted blue. In front of her was a bed that was pretty big with a purple blanket on it with blue and gray flowers on it mixed in with the green of their leaves. A big, sparkly blue canopy hung over the bed that had big, cushy-looking pillows on it and the still-singed (but looking better) Snowball there in the middle of them. A little cubby-hole like shelf system was at the foot of the bed with gray and blue and purple and green little baskets tucked in the holes with her toys in them. The carpet was a pretty blue and there was a little bookshelf on the wall with some of the books Daddy had gotten her and a little desk beside it. There was a cute little table off to the side with chairs all around it and a low shelf with a mirror over it on the other wall. An open sliding door led to a _big_ closet with all her new clothes in it and another open door that led to a nice bathroom that was fixed in blue and purple and gray.

"Do you like it?"

"Yeah! Thank you, Daddy!" She smiled up at him.

"I'm glad you like it! But you'll have to thank Izumi-oba too."

"I will," she answered.

"Wow, Bakuryuu. You really did make it look nice. I'm sure Hotaru will be just fine in here until our house gets finished."

The man grinned. "Sure will! We'll be just across the hall." He pointed to the door. "You can explore your room for a while Hotaru. Dinner's at six o'clock."

"Okay!" she responded with a wide grin.

~ Dinner ~

"Hotaru~! Time to clean up for dinner!" Mommy called, getting the girl to look up from the little mess she'd made trying to figure out which toys were where.

"Okay Mommy!" she called, looking at the mess she'd made with a frown. She needed to clean it up or else Mommy would be mad at her. But if she was late to dinner, Mommy _and_ Izumi-oba would be mad at her…

She nodded her head, deciding to clean herself up first and then fix the mess if she had time. So she dusted herself off and made her way into the bathroom to wash her hands and face before changing her clothes. She didn't dress too nice, it wasn't like this was one of the weekly dinners after all, but she figured Mommy would be upset if she hadn't changed at all. After donning a simple pair of pants and a gray t-shirt, she stepped into her slippers and made her way toward the dining room.

"Whoa! Wrong way kiddo!" Daddy suddenly exclaimed, scooping her up off the ground and setting her on his shoulders.

"Are you _sure,_ Daddy?"

"Yep! I lived here for a long time, you know kiddo."

"Okay Daddy."

It was just after six when Daddy was standing at the end of a hallway scratching his head. "I think they remodeled…"

"No, you're just stupid," Ryu-oji announced. "And you're both late. Now come on."

Oh great, now she was late _and_ left a mess in her room. She was definitely gonna be in trouble now!

"About time!" Kikyo groaned from her seat next to her sister.

"Ryunashi, what took so long?" Izumi crossed her arms after setting a plate on the table.

"Hey, I was retrieving tweedle dee and tweedle dum."

"Hey! That's mean!" Father and daughter exclaimed in unison.

"Don't worry, Hotaru. You're tweedle dee. It just means you're little."

"Are you trying to say I'm dumb, Ryunashi?!" Bakuryuu exclaimed.

"The fact that you have to ask tells all, Oji," Kikyo announced.

Daddy's normal slump with a black cloud over his head nearly knocked Hotaru off of his shoulders. "Bakuryuu!" Mommy exclaimed, jumping up and snatching her away.

"Oh! Oh! Sorry Hotaru!"

"See, stupid~," Kikyo snickered.

"Kikyo, be nice to your uncle," Izumi scolded.

"Why?" She cocked her head. "This is so much more fun!" she giggled.

"Poor Ojisan, but you do set yourself up for it." Kitsune patted the man's messy head as he sat down on her other side."

"Daddy!" Hotaru crossed her arms. "That's _my_ seat~"

"… Oops." He scooted to the next seat over so Hotaru could sit on Kitsune's other side.

"Better." Hotaru nodded as she sat and was handed a cup of juice.

"Food-food-food~" Bakuryuu sang. "What are we having?" He grinned. Hotaru couldn't care _what_ they had. She was starving!

"Oden," the mothers answered in unison and began setting plates on the table.

~ Friends ~

Inoue, Izumi, Kushina, and Mikoto brought their four children together to the main estate of the Tadashi compound for a play date. They were inside making snacks, leaving the four children to play together outside. Hotaru had gone into the house to get the chalk so they could draw on the concrete or make a game with it, and when she returned she found Naruto scouting the area for adults watching.

That little idiot! He was probably going to go try to pain the Hokage Monument again! She couldn't just let him do something so stupid so she marched over and stood in front of him, crossing her arms over her chest and scowling like Mommy.

The blonde started to tip-toe away but only tip-toed into Hotaru and full on his butt. "Don't even think about it, Naruto!"

"Oh come on, Hotaru! You know this blows! Your cousin's mean and Sasuke's a stupid jerk!"

"That doesn't make running away to paint the monument a good idea! I've _told_ you, Naruto, you can't just _do_ something like that! You'll get caught!"

"I bet _I_ can do it without getting caught," Kikyo announced proudly.

"No you can't, Kikyo!"

"I bet I can!"

"You don't even know what you're agreeing to!" Hotaru whined.

"If Kikyo can do it then so can I!" Sasuke announced.

"No you can't! None of you can!"

"Is that a challenge?!"

"No! It's a statement!"

"See, Hotaru, they think we can do it!" Naruto exclaimed.

"They don't even know what we're talking about!"

"I don't care," Kikyo answered. "I can still do it. Without getting caught."

Hotaru gave her a doubtful look. "Kikyo, you don—"

"Oh blah blah. Quit being a wet blanket, Hotaru! You're no fun!"

"Is that so?" the girl asked, her brow twitching a bit. Then her face calmed and she smiled a sneaky sort of smile that made Kikyo a little anxious. "Fine, let's make a bet of it."

"Name your terms."

"You paint the monument without _any of you_ getting caught and I'll… give you my dessert for a week. But if any of get caught, any single one, then I get _your_ desserts for a week. That goes for all of you."

"Fine," Sasuke agreed.

"You got a deal! Dattebayo!" Naruto agreed.

"Make it a month!" Kikyo exclaimed. "Now what monument are we painting?" She smirked, so completely confident in her abilities.

Hotaru's face split into an enormous grin and she turned slightly and pointed.

"You think you can just point north and I'll know?" Kikyo glanced at Sasuke who was gawking in the direction she was pointing, looking newly doubtful and a little pale. "What?"

"The _Hokage_ Monument, Kikyo."

She blinked once. Twice. "Oh hell no!"

Naruto's eyes grew huge and he gasped, putting a hand over his mouth and pointing at Kikyo. "She said a bad word~!"

"It is not!" she argued back. "Papa uses it all the time!" She crossed her arms, sure her argument was solid.

"That means nothing. It's still bad." Hotaru put her hands on her hips.

"Like it matters. How could you agree to a bet without even realizing what you were doing?" Sasuke asked as though he were superior.

"You did the exact same thing idiot!" Kikyo's eyebrow twitched.

"I didn't!" Naruto announced smugly.

"You shouldn't be proud of that," the pair informed him in a deadpan.

"And none of you are getting out of it." Hotaru smiled, already calculating her next month of desserts.

"No, we're doing this." Kikyo cracked her knuckles and dragged the boys by the scruffs of their necks, dead set on showing up her cousin…

They were caught after barely finishing the first head. They all passed the blame around. Kikyo felt it was Naruto's fault, but he swore it was Sasuke's. And Sasuke was dead set on blaming Kikyo.

Maybe they'd eventually learn that it was all of their faults. Hotaru didn't see it happening though.

Izumi-oba made kuzumochi that night! Hotaru smiled, she was going to enjoy the next month.


	3. Some Sisters and a Dog

**Kunoichi**

 _Some Sisters and a Dog_

"Daddy!" Hotaru exclaimed excitedly upon seeing the man. She came running up and he stopped and turned, kneeling down so he would be on her level when she got to him.

He grinned at her. "Whatcha got there, kiddo?"

Her own grin grew and she opened her cupped hands to show him the pretty little flower they held. "I made it! Isn't it pretty?"

"It's very pretty," Daddy told her, nodding his head. "But you don't make flowers, honey, you _pick_ them."

"No, Daddy, I _made_ it, watch!" She scrunched her face up a bit and concentrated hard on her hands. Slowly, another flower much like the other one began to grow into existence within her palm.

As it did, Daddy's eyes got bigger and bigger until they couldn't get bigger anymore. "That… that…"

"Isn't it cool, Daddy?" she asked, her grin faltering a bit at his expression. Was it not good?

"That's incredible, Hotaru!" he exclaimed, face covered in astonishment. "Do you know what you're doing?" His face changed into a more serious one.

The little girl shook her head. "Uh uh."

"It's called Mokuton," he told her with a grin, "or Wood Release Jutsu. It's very advanced and very rare. In fact, we only know of one other person to ever have it before."

"Really?" the child asked, eyes wide. "Who?"

He held up his finger and looked around before leaning in close as if what he was about to say was a huge secret. "The First Hokage."

"Really?" Hotaru exclaimed in surprise, eyes getting wider.

"That's right. He was an incredible shinobi too. They called him the 'god of shinobi' and he even founded the village. Isn't that cool?"

"Yeah!"

"Not only that but—" Daddy cut himself off and slowly a horrified expression came over his face and he began to shout about how he wasn't ready for this and what was he supposed to do and what if he screws up and a bunch of other worrying stuff.

So Hotaru did what any four-and-a-half year old would do: she turned and hurried off to the house she was staying at. The little girl knocked loudly on the door until it was pulled open by her mother. "Mommy! I think I broke Daddy!"

"What?" Inoue asked, looking like she was trying hard not to laugh. "You broke your daddy?" The little girl nodded, face worried. "How did you do that, sweety?"

"I just showed him the flower I made," she told her with an upset frown.

"No, Hotaru. You don't _make_ flowers, you _pick_ them."

"Why does everyone keep saying that like I'm stupid?" she asked, throwing her hands up. "I _made_ the flower, Mommy."

"Oh, is it a paper flower?"

"No, I made it like this!" Hotaru held her hands up and showed her what Daddy called Mokuton.

Inoue stared at the new little flower in the girl's hands for a moment then blinked twice. "Oh. I see. You broke Bakuryuu."

~ Moving? ~

When Bakuryuu came to his borrowed room later that evening, he found Inoue sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, some paperwork in her lap. She didn't seem to be paying it much attention though if the glazed-over look in her eye was anything to judge by. She was chewing sedately on her pen, seeming to be thinking seriously about something.

So Bakuryuu did the only thing he could think to do: loudly throw himself on the bed and warp his arms around her waist. "Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?"

She jumped then smacked his arm with her pen. "Don't do that, Bakuryuu. You startled me."

"What's up? Are your burns bothering you?" He gave her his best worried puppy look.

"No, I just… I was just thinking," she told him with a sigh, running a hand through her hair and leaning back. He adjusted himself so she was leaning into him as she closed her eyes and moved the papers out of her lap so they wouldn't be bothering her.

"What about?"

"I…" She glanced at him and sighed, rolling over so she was looking at him. "Have you put any thought into how we're going to train Hotaru?"

"Hm? We're already training Hotaru. She takes kenjutsu lessons with Kikyo and Kitsune twice a week."

"I know, but I meant more serious training."

"Have you _seen_ her and Kikyo spar? I'd call that serious."

Inoue chuckled and smacked his chest. "You know what I meant, Bakuryuu. If Hotaru's inherited the Mokuton… well she needs to be trained like a Senju. Actually, they'll probably want her to stay in the compound whenever it gets rebuilt. They'll insist she change her name and… well I thought it might be better if we knew just where we both stood on the subject."

"Oh. I didn't think about that. But Hotaru likes her sword lessons and story time and everything. She's proud of being a Tadashi."

"I know," she answered. "And I want to enjoy her training, but I guess a part of me wants her to learn like a Senju."

"We can teach her like a Senju too!" Bakuryuu assured her.

"Not if we're living on the Tadashi Compound," Inoue told him. "To them, that means we're not exactly family."

"Well what if we don't live on the Tadashi Compound?"

"Huh? You want to go live with the Senju?"

"Nope!"

"Bakuryuu, you aren't making sense."

"What if we get a house that's not on any compound? I doubt it would bother Ryunashi – he'd actually probably be ecstatic!" The man laughed.

"Hm… I suppose that could work. We'll have to see about it though."

"All right then, we're getting a new house!"

"…Bakuryuu, that's not what we just agreed on."

"Sure it is!"

~ A New House ~

Hotaru wasn't exactly sure about their new house. She'd never lived in one that wasn't on a compound before. It was weird. They were a little far out toward the edge of the village in a little forested area. There was a lot of trees and room to play, but not that many people. The next house was a ways away, but not so far that she couldn't see it or walk there. But she didn't know who they were and neither did Mommy or Daddy.

She looked over the front of the house with a frown. It was two stories high and Mommy said there was a basement and an attic. The walls were a mix of brick and siding and there was a nice big porch that curled around the side of the house. The floor of it was wooden planks but the bracings and railing were made of metal that was spray-painted white to match the siding. There was a nice little balcony over the porch in the front.

"Come on, Princess, let's go see the inside!" Daddy exclaimed, picking her up and carrying her inside. "I bet you'll like it."

"I dunno, Daddy."

He pushed one of the double doors open – they were white with little rows of windows in them so you could see inside and had gray curtains hanging on the inside of them – and started inside, Mommy right behind them. Hotaru looked around. The door opened into a little sitting room with some chairs organized and little tables for snacks. Daddy hardly paused in the little room before sliding open the door to the rest of the house.

This door opened into the living room, which was pretty big. It had thick, dark gray carpets and wall that were painted a warm brown. An archway on the far end revealed a dining room with hardwood floors and a big windowed wall that showed the porch and back yard. On the wall to her left was another archway that showed the kitchen. It floor was tiled in white and blue, and the walls were a light gray.

"Come on, Hotaru! I'll show you your play room and then we can go look at your room!"

"…okay."

"Come on, Hotaru! Get excited! This is fun!"

"I guess."

Bakuryuu pouted at her then grinned. "I bet your play room will cheer you up!"

Then he made his way down into the basement with his daughter in his arms. The stairs going down were all curled around and metal, painted a funny white-ish color. Daddy had to duck his head a little bit so he didn't hit it on the bottom stair.

She'd bet he'd hit his head ten times by the end of the week.

The man gave her his great big goofy grin and set her down on a carpeted floor. "Ta da!" This carpet wasn't quite as thick as the carpet upstairs and Hotaru guess it was probably easier to clean. It was a blue-ish green color, the walls that shade of gray that she'd seen a lot so far in the house. There was a line of white cabinets on the far end of the room with an open space which held a little TV. The cabinets on either side of it didn't have doors so she could see the videos on one side and the little toys on the other. There was a pocketed wall hanging with a few more toys in it, a little table, and a bookshelf. It looked comfy and fun, but she didn't know where anything was yet.

On either side of the room were wooden doors. "Where do those go?" she asked, looking up at Daddy curiously. "Well that one's my office and that one's Mommy's. Mine has a potty in it if you have to go and don't think you can get upstairs in time."

"Okay."

"Come on, let's go look around upstairs a little more."

"Okay."

Daddy showed her the kitchen and dining room – which was really cool because all the walls had big windows so you could see out into the forest while you ate. He also showed her the bathroom and the laundry room and this little pulley thing in the wall that you could use to move stuff upstairs and back down easier. It was pretty cool.

Then he took her upstairs and showed her where his and Mommy's room was and a couple of guest rooms and then she got to see her room. It was the one at the end of the hall. "Now close your eyes." Daddy told her

"Why?"

"It's a surprise!"

"But I already know it's my room…"

"Just close your eyes."

"Okay…" She squeezed her eyes closed tight and put her hands over them, then she heard him push the door open. Then a light hand gave her a gentle push forward and she walked straight. She could feel a really soft, fluffy carpet under her feet.

"All right, open them." He sounded like he was trying to restrain giddiness.

Hotaru did as she was asked and blinked at the sight before her. The far wall was solid windows with a balcony easily visible through the thin, shimmery white curtains draped across them. Thick beige curtains were bundled over the thick green curtains that hung in the corners where the window met the walls. The floors were a white and brown hardwood, the walls painted a light brown to match. Three little green and white flower-shaped rugs were settled in the open space of the floor. There was a white wooden shelf to her left, fixed perfectly in the corner with the edges connected in a circle. Her stuffed animals were arranged beautifully on the shelf. A little white desk was fixed beside the shelf. She had a new bed that was fixed across from the desk. The bed was close to the ground so she could get up and down easily. It had a green comforter with little brown balls on it, and the pillows were fluffy and white, Snowball settled comfortably among them. Poor thing was still all singed despite what Hotaru and Mommy had tried to help. The door to the closet was a couple feet down from the bed.

But the _coolest_ thing in the whole room was in the corner in front of the window across from the closet. It was shaped like a tree that reached up with its almost-real looking greenery fixed to the ceiling - which was awesome in itself! It was smooth and shiny and blue and looked like a perfect blue sky, or maybe a lake. But that wasn't even the best part! The tree had a _swing_ hanging from It! And a little swinging/climbing rope! It was so cool~!

"Whoa!"

"Do you like it?"

"Yeah! It's really cool, Daddy!" She hugged his legs.

"Thanks, Princess! But you'll have to thank Mommy too."

"I will!" she announced, grinning from ear to ear.

Bakuryuu grinned too. "Well what are you waiting for? Let's play!"

~ A New Baby ~

"Bakuryuu?"

The man in question paused and frowned at the serious tone in his wife's voice. He looked up at her to seen the tone mirrored on her face. She had her hands clasped together and the barest hint of a smile on her face. So not good news but not bad news? Or was it good news _and_ bad news?

"What is it, Inoue?" he asked, closing the file and setting it down.

"Bakuryuu, I have news."

"What news?"

She smiled a bit more brightly. So good news first. Awesome. "I'm pregnant."

"What?! That's awesome!" he exclaimed, jumping up and hugging her. He pulled her off her feet and spun her around, animatedly talking to her about having another child. He settled her back down and grinned from ear to ear. "Why aren't you so excited too?"

"Bakuryuu, there's someone else _we_ have to tell."

He blinked. It seemed like she was hinting at something, but he didn't know what it was. "Who?"

"Our daughter maybe?"

He blinked again then his eyes grew wide and his face paled. "Oh man we have to tell Hotaru!"

"Yes we do."

"What if we—"

"We have to tell her, Bakuryuu."

"But she's gonna be upset~!"

"She'll have to get over it," Inoue told him firmly.

"But what if we wait?"

"And what? Tell her when we have the baby? Yes, I see that going _so_ well." The woman rolled her eyes. "It's better to tell her now and give her time to adjust to the idea."

"But-but…"

"We're telling her, Bakuryuu."

"Yes ma'am."

The man was pouting when he was dragged out by his wife to pick up his daughter from Ryunashi's house where she had been training with Kikyo and Kitsune in kenjutsu. The parents walked up beside the ten year old kunoichi who was teaching the two four year olds. "How's she doing?" Inoue asked as they watched the two girls fight with bokken.

"She's doing well," Kitsune answered.

"Of course she is! My princess is perfect~!" Bakuryuu cooed. "Hotaru~! It's time to go home~!"

"I'm coming, Daddy!" the girl called back, stopping her fight. Kikyo, however, disagreed to this end and hit the other girl upside the head. This instigated a brawl. Once it was broken up and the two girls were separated, the little family of three headed home so Bakuryuu and Inoue could break the news.

After all, it's best to get this over with quickly, otherwise it might stew too much and blow up in their faces. The father wasn't thrilled, but he decided to go along with it.

"Hotaru, sweetheart, we have some good news," Inoue began, looking seriously at her daughter who was seated in the armchair while her parents faced her side-by-side on the couch.

"You don't look like you have good news."

"But we do!" Bakuryuu told her with a broad smile. "You're going to be a big sister!"

"Huh?"

"Hotaru, sweety, how would you feel about Mommy and Daddy having another baby?"

The little girl's eyebrows scrunched up and she frowned seriously. "Another baby? But I'm your baby."

"Yes you are, honey," Inoue agreed.

"You'll always be our baby and my little princess," Bakuryuu told her.

"But what if Mommy and Daddy have _another_ baby?"

"Why would you do that?" the child cocked her head and had this adorably confused look on her face.

"Because it's something Mommies and Daddies do, Firefly. And Mommy and Daddy are going to have another baby."

"What if I don't want another baby?" she asked with her lower lip pouted out.

"Firefly, I'm sorry if you don't want a little brother or sister, but Mommy and Daddy are going to have one."

"Then why'd ya ask if I wanted one?"

"Aw come on, Princess! Think about it!" Bakuryuu exclaimed, getting down in the floor in front of Hotaru. "You're going to be a big sister! Like Kitsune!"

And that was exactly the wrong thing to say. It seemed to be working for about two seconds as she considered it but then she paled and her eyes got wide and she howled, "I don't want a Kikyo~!"

"No, no sweety! You're not getting a Kikyo! It might not even be a sister!"

"I'm getting a Sasuke?! I don't want that either!"

"Hotaru, enough!" Inoue interrupted, crouching in front of her daughter and shoving her husband aside. "Kikyo is Kikyo because that's who she is. Sasuke is Sasuke because that's who heis. Your little brother or sister will be whoever he or she is. If it's a boy, he will not be Sasuke, and if it's a girl, she will not be Kikyo."

"I don't want a Kikyo," she whimpered, looking pitiful.

"And you're not going to get a Kikyo, Hotaru! But you _are_ going to get a little brother or sister whether you like it or not!"

Probably not the best way to have handled that situation. Despite that, it seemed Inoue had been right about giving Hotaru time to adjust to the idea making it a bit easier. By the time the baby was born, the five year old was excited to meet the infant. Or, rather, infants. Turned out Inoue was having twins this go around.

She was staying with Ryunashi and Izumi while her mother was in the hospital – a decision made due to the complications that arose with Hotaru though most of those were suspected to have more to do with the Sanbi than anything. The elder brother and his wife took Hotaru, Kitsune, and Kikyo to visit Bakuryuu, Inoue and their newborns.

Hotaru was actually smiling when she was standing in front of the door, waiting for her uncle to open it.

That all changed when she saw what was on the other side. Bakuryuu had one of his new baby girls in his arms and he was cooing at it, calling it his princess. Hotaru was not pleased. Not pleased at all.

"Hotaru!" the man exclaimed, bright smile on his face. "Come meet Tsubaki!" He adjusted the baby so she could see it better. Hotaru looked the infant over, frowning at it. Then she looked over at Inoue who was smiling and holding another baby. "And Mommy has Tsukiko," a bit of his bubbly edge was gone when he said that. Clearly he was upset that she hadn't run over to him to see the baby better.

The five year old nodded before turning to her uncle and holding her arms up. "Ryu-oji, I want up."

The man seemed somewhere between surprised and amused at this whereas his little brother looked almost horrified. Ryunashi picked the five year old up and she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek before resting her head in the crook of his neck.

Kikyo looked half ready to protest before looking at her uncle's face and giggling. Kitsune snickered behind her hand.

"Hotaru~! That's dirty~!" Bakuryuu whined. His brother just smirked at him, amused.

"Oh hush and give me that precious angel," Izumi exclaimed, walking over and taking Tsubaki from her father.

"Here, Hotaru, I'll get you," Bakuryuu offered, crossing the room and holding his hands out to his eldest daughter. The child just hugged her uncle tighter and looked away from him.

This pattern continued for not only the rest of the day, but the days that followed as well. Even after they went home. Even after she warmed up to the twins. Inoue was safe from it, the five year old would go up to her mother and cuddle up to her whether or not she had an infant cradled to her chest. But she wouldn't go anywhere near Bakuryuu even if he wasn't carrying one of the babies.

He was distraught. Inoue found it hilarious.

But he had a plan. He would get his princess back one way or another!

~ Hanji ~

"Hotaru~!" Bakuryuu's voice sounded from the doorway as he walked into the house.

The girl in question looked up from her place on the ground, carefully coloring the Sun bright pink without really realizing the mistake. She frowned, considering going to see what her father wanted. She didn't have time to decide because the next second the man appeared on the stairs with a wriggling ball of fur in his arms.

It barked.

…Why did Daddy bring home a dog?

"I got you a present!"

Sometimes, Hotaru just didn't understand where Daddy got his ideas from. She'd never asked for a puppy, never went out of her way to look at puppies, didn't try to pet them, didn't grin or laugh at the sight of them… Seriously, she didn't care for puppies. Sure, they were cute, but that was really it. So _why_ did Daddy think she wanted one? What could have possibly possessed him to think getting a puppy was the best idea in the world? That didn't matter though, because now they had a puppy apparently.

Hotaru looked at the fluffy little thing in Daddy's hands and frowned. It was panting and its tongue was hanging out. Well, Daddy was right about one thing, it _was_ pretty cute.

With a grin, the man set the puppy on the ground and it bound right over to the little girl and leaped up in her lap. Then it started trying to lick her in the face.

"Ew! Gross!" she exclaimed, pushing it off. The dog fell but jumped back up and tried again. "Stop it!" she whined at it.

Daddy laughed.

"It's not funny! It's disgusting!" She pushed the dog off again but the stupid thing was persistent.

"So what are you gonna name him, Hotaru?"

"I don't want it, why would I name it?"

"Because he's ours now!"

Seriously. _Why_?

"How about Disgusting?"

"Hotaru."

"Fine, fine. Slobbery?"

"Hotaru, if you don't name him, I will."

A horrified expression came over Hotaru's face. "No! You'll name it something stupid!"

"I'm writing down names, Hotaru~!"

"No! I'll name him!"

"Good." Daddy grinned, clearly feeling like he won.

The little girl scowled at him and then grabbed the puppy, holding it where she could see it but it couldn't try to slobber all over her face. She scowled at the puppy for a long moment, thinking hard about its new name. "Hanji," she finally decided, nodding to herself. "Your name is Hanji." Then she pushed him off in the floor again. "Do we have to keep him, Daddy?"

"Of course we do! You've named him now!"

Hotaru gave Daddy her best scowl.

That was when Mommy walked in and saw it. "Bakuryuu, you take that dog back right this second!"

"But Hotaru named it already! She's attached!"

"I am not!"

"Shh, honey, grown-ups are talking."

Hotaru pouted and shoved the dog off of her again.

"Take. It. Back."

Daddy did not. Mommy stayed mad at him for a while, Hotaru too, but eventually both grew attached to the little fluffy drool monster.

~ Daddy's Princess ~

Hotaru really didn't like storms. She didn't like to admit it because if Kikyo ever found out, she'd be made the laughing stock of the Tadashi Compound! So she never told anyone and just hid deep under her covers. She used to get up and go tell Daddy she had a nightmare, but she didn't know if she could do that anymore…

After a particularly loud and close lightning bolt shook her window, she decided to give it a try. There were tears in her eyes as she crawled out of bed and made her way downstairs to find him, her over-sized white teddy bear Snowball hugged to her chest and the whimpering Hanji at her heels.

Daddy was sitting at his desk looking at some papers when she walked in. He looked surprised and then he frowned and his eyebrows knit together. He pushed his chair back as she walked over toward him. "What's the matter, Princess?"

Her lip wavered pitifully. "Why'd you call me that?"

"Because you're my little princess of course!" he answered. "I've always called you my princess, why wouldn't I now?"

"I thought Tsukiko and Tsubaki were your princess now."

Daddy made a really upset face and then scooped her up off the floor and hugged her tight to his chest. "Hotaru, is that what all this has been about? Oh, my sweet princess I'm so sorry." He kissed her forehead and hugged her tighter. "Just because I call Tsubaki and Tsukiko my princess doesn't mean you aren't still."

"But… but you haven't called me that in a while… not since…" Now she was sniffling and trying not to cry.

"Hotaru~, I'm so sorry! You are my princess, Hotaru, and you always will be. I told you that, didn't I? I guess I just got a little caught up in the new babies. I'm sorry, Princess."

"You mean it?"

"Of course."

She sniffled and snuggled her head into his chest. "I don't like storms, Daddy."

"I know."

"Hanji doesn't like them either."

"I noticed."

"I love you Daddy."

"I love you too, Princess."


	4. Abduction

**Kunoichi**

 _Abduction_

It was just another normal evening for Kikyo and Hotaru. Sasuke went on a hunting trip with his brother and Naruto was grounded for playing a prank on the Third Hokage so it was just the two Tadashi girls that day.

At first they decided to train… but Izumi-oba got mad because they broke about five bokken and then they tracked dirt into the house… which was always a bad idea.

So, instead of risking their lives by staying at Kikyo's, they decided to, as Kikyo put it, "test their agility and evasion tactics against one another." In normal-person terms, they were playing tag.

"You're it! Ha!" Kikyo exclaimed out of nowhere before taking off.

"Kikyo! Hey! That wasn't fair!" Hotaru shouted after her, chasing. After a little while of this, the green haired girl slowed down. "Hey Kikyo, where are we?"

"That trick doesn't work on me, Hotaru!"

"No, I'm serious! Where are we?" She stopped running altogether and looked around, perplexed.

Kikyo stopped too, but kept her distance. She looked around before frowning herself. "I don't know. I guess we wandered a little too far."

"We should head back," Hotaru told her, feeling anxious.

"Aw, don't be such a crybaby," the brunette scoffed. "Let's explore!" The mischievous one grinned a bit and started off into the trees with a new purpose.

"Kikyo! I really think we should head back!"

"Oh don't be such a worry-wart!"

"You always say that!"

"But you're still always a kill-joy."

"Kikyo~!"

"Hotaru~!" she mocked.

The Senju knew her eyes were better than most because of her father so she knew that Kikyo probably couldn't see the pair of men moving around on the ground a ways ahead of them. They seemed to be looking for something and moving cautiously so they wouldn't be seen. It made Hotaru uneasy. "Kikyo. I think we should go now."

"You can if you want to, but I'm not."

"Kikyo, seriously," Hotaru hissed, grabbing her arm. "There are people here. People I don't recognize."

"There are probably a bunch of people you don't recognize in the village, Hotaru. Stopping freaking over nothing."

"Kikyo, I have a bad feeling."

"You _always_ have a bad feeling. If you really don't want to run into them, we can just go another way."

Hotaru nodded, that sounded okay. She directed them around the duo, but Kikyo just couldn't help her curiosity. The green haired girl wanted to slam her head into a tree. Why did she have to be so stubborn?! But as they skirted a little close, Hotaru noticed something she hadn't before: the symbol on their headbands was different. Instead of the normal swirly, leaf-like symbol that represented Konoha, they had four squiggly lines.

Which village was that? Come on, she knew this…

Before she could place the symbol, Kikyo was marching over to them. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"Ninja from other villages aren't supposed to be here," the brunette announced. "I'm gonna ask why they are."

"Kikyo, I don't think that's a good idea. We should go back and get Daddy or Ryu-oji or—"

"Hey you!"

"Or not," Hotaru muttered.

Both of the ninja turned to them at Kikyo shout. They looked at the brunette for a moment before their eyes zeroed in on Hotaru. Their eyes moved from her to something in their hands – a picture maybe – and back to Hotaru. This wasn't good. Not good at all. "What do you think you're doing here?" Kikyo demanded, hands on her hips. "You're in Konoha territory, foreign ninja aren't supposed to be here."

One of the men smirked. "I'll tell you what we're doing here. Or better yet, _show_ you."

Hotaru saw it coming. She tried to flee, but, while Hotaru was quick, the foreign ninja was quicker. He scooped her up like some kind of ball and held her under his arm while the other kicked Kikyo into a tree hard enough that the Jinchuriki had to wince.

Now, normally Hotaru was a very sweet and nice child. She wasn't like Kikyo, she didn't aim for mean spots when sparring or really even try to hurt anyone. But this time was different. First off, they'd attacked Kikyo and people just didn't do that. And second, they were clearly mean people that were trying to take her away. So she decided to take a page out of her cousin's book and grabbed hold of the bokken Daddy insisted she carry around with her then slammed it between her captor's legs.

He let out a howl of pain and dropped her, falling to the ground and holding his new injury. "Shit!" the other guy exclaimed, lunging at her. Hotaru swung her bokken and hit him in the head.

Except she broke it.

"Ow! Damn it!"

Great! Now she didn't have anything to defend herself with! Why'd she have to go and break it?!

Then she realized that the men were somewhat disabled for the moment, so she rushed over to Kikyo. Or tried to. The second man recovered and grabbed hold of Hotaru's ponytail before giving it a sharp jerk. The little girl let out a shout of pain. Kikyo had gotten up though and rushed to the rescue, hitting the jerk in the eye.

He let Hotaru go but they didn't get far because the other guy recovered and man was he _pissed_. Apparently Kikyo was really lucky that Daddy was nice. "You damned little brats!" he snarled. Kikyo took a swing at him, but he caught her bokken and jerked it away before breaking it over his leg.

"Not so fast." The angry guy Hotaru had hit in the crotch grabbed Kikyo by the neck. She scratched at the hand, but it was too much for her.

"Ki—yaaa!" Her shout was cut off with a cry of pain as the other guy – crap, she'd forgotten about him – grabbed her by the hair again and jerked her back. She swung her arms and kicked her legs, hoping to make contact with the jerk. Problem was she was too short. Her eyes flooded with pained tears. It _hurt_. What kind of meany picks someone up by the hair?!

Despite her struggles, or maybe because of them, the man holding her grabbed hold of her arm so hard that it would probably bruise and twisted it awkwardly behind her back.

"The Jinchuriki is going with us."

Hotaru's stomach dropped at _that_ word. It wasn't the first time she heard it, and it probably wouldn't be the last. These guys were here because of the _Sanbi_. And that meant… that meant…

She struggled hard now, even more frightened than before. No way was she letting these jerks do that! No way! She slammed her head back and made contact, hard enough to make him cuss. It wasn't until after that she remembered the reason Daddy told her that head-butts weren't smart: they hurt _her_ too. The world swam in front of her eyes and she had to blink away the bleariness.

When her visions started to clear, just a little, she saw Kikyo hit the ground hard and roll, blood spilling down from her temple. "KIKYO!" Hotaru shrieked, feeling sick and scared. Her arms were shaking now, even as the _asshole_ holding her arms down began to tie them together. She jerked and struggled, making the task for him as hard as possible. Maybe if she wriggled enough, she could get free and get Kikyo! Sure, she wasn't stronger than these guys, but if Hotaru knew anything it was how to run and hide! She'd done that for years!

"These damned fucking brats! Stop fucking moving!"

Hotaru wished she was like Kikyo, stubborn and strong and mean enough to have something to say back to him that would probably piss him off more while making him seem like the mean idiot he was. But she just wasn't like that and instead of being strong and stubborn and mean, Hotaru's eyes filled with scared and pained tears and she yelped, "Stop it! That hurts!"

"If you weren't such a fussy little demon, we wouldn't have to."

Hotaru flinched at the word. She'd been called a demon so many times that it made her sick and angry. She _wasn't_ a demon. She _wasn't_ the Sanbi. _She_ didn't deserve any of their stupid crap! She did everything she could to fit in and get along and still everyone just _kept calling her that_.

Then Kikyo stood up again and Hotaru's frustration didn't matter anymore. The other girl's face was covered in blood, so much so that she had to spit it out. But she had that stupid determined look in her eyes and Hotaru knew what that meant. But she couldn't! She just couldn't! Kikyo had been hurt enough over her, she wouldn't let her do it anymore! "Let. Her. Go."

"No! Kikyo run!" Her voice was weak and pitiful and begging, Hotaru knew, but she didn't care. So long as Kikyo got away without getting hurt anymore she didn't care. "Go get Daddy! Or Ryu-oji! Please just run!"

"Ringo, hold the Jinchuriki," the guy holding her instructed with a sinister sort of chuckle.

Hotaru was sure she went pale, she felt like she should have been pale. Her hands were shaking and her face loosened up and she just felt so still and tense and terror, raw and unencumbered, welled in her stomach. _No. No no no._ She wanted to fight, to struggle, to break free, to at least _try_ to help Kikyo, _try_ to stop these bastards, but she couldn't move. It was like the fear had leaked into every part of her body and grabbed hold of her muscles and _refused_ to let them so much as twitch.

"Don't you think we should take her with us as well?"

Was she hyperventilating? Hotaru felt like she was hyperventilating. She silently begged the guy that was carrying her to say 'yes'. Even if it meant they were going into danger, at least Kikyo would be—

"Nah, the Jinchuriki was our only target."

 _No. no no no._

"What would they say if we just bring some snot nosed brat with us?"

 _Please God no!_

"It's quicker to just kill the extra."

"No!" Hotaru shrieked. "Stop it!"

She couldn't take this. No no no. They couldn't kill Kikyo! They just couldn't! She wanted to fight, to scream, to run, to get in the way, to do _something_ but her entire body was still frozen with fear and all she could do was cry.

"You're not going anywhere with my stupid cousin."

 _No… please… Kikyo… just run… leave me and run… please…_

"And you're going to stop us?"

 _Please Kikyo, please just run._

"Even if I don't the others will. You know why?"

The man charged forward faster than Hotaru could see, easily as fast as Kitsune-san or Itachi-san when they were even halfway serious. Kikyo somehow managed to duck. Hotaru still didn't know how she'd figured out how to time that, but she could get it _just right_ every time. The little girl pushed in and kneed the man in the crotch and then head-butting him in the chin. Then she did that trick Itachi-san had taught them to knock bigger opponents down by aiming for the backs of their knees. The man flipped back to gain distance, rubbing his jaw and looking angrier than ever.

For a moment, Hotaru almost thought Kikyo stood half a chance of at least lasting until Daddy or Ryu-oji got there.

"Because you don't mess with the Tadashi clan unless you want to end up dead." Kikyo tried to charge again, but the man was just too fast. He met her lunge with one of his own. His foot slammed down hard on her arm and Hotaru heard a faint but distinct _snap_. It was so quiet, but it was almost all Hotaru could hear.

 _Dammit Kikyo, you should have run! Can't you tell that these guys aren't the normal lugheads?!_

His knuckles, covered in a brass set that he could only have been using for added cruelty, slammed hard into her jaw, hard enough that one of her teeth came out. "No, no, no, no…" Hotaru whimpered.

"Hurry up and end it already. Someone might be looking for the brats by now."

"No, no, no, no…" Her entire body was trembling and she could feel this weird burning sensation in her stomach.

"Tch, you're no fun." The other man pulled out a kunai and slashed it across Kikyo's front. Her blood splattered across the grass and the trees and the stubborn idiot that was Hotaru's cousin fell.

"There, was that so hard?"

"Nah, but it was boring."

"KIKYO!" Hotaru shrieked, finally finding some sort of strength in her, enough to start struggling again. "KIKYO! KIKYO!"

"Will you shut up?"

"KIKYO!" She couldn't be dead. No way. Not Kikyo. She couldn't be dead. "KIKYO!" Please answer! Please!

But no answer came. Kikyo didn't so much as twitch.

Hotaru felt horrified and desperate and scared and so many other things that words couldn't describe. "KIKYO!" The burning in her stomach was growing, but it didn't exactly hurt which was kinda weird. "KIKYO!" Hotaru was starting to get angry, really angry. And her body was trembling and the burning was spreading out into the rest of her body. "KIKYO!"

 _How dare they?! How_ dare _they hurt Kikyo?! How-how dare they-they—_

Her little hands balled into fist and this burning rage that had spread through her entire body seemed to erupt outward into the air. Everything seemed to turn red and an enraged shout escaped her lips without her even meaning it.

Somehow, she managed to break through her bonds and swung at the unsuspecting bastard holding her, claws digging into his skin.

Wait, claws?! What the—

Something hit Hotaru hard in the back of the head and just like that, everything went black.

Bakuryuu's day had been going pretty smoothly. He got to go out and enjoy the sunshine. So what if his 'enjoying the sunshine' involved examining a crime scene complete with a dead body? It was still just a lovely day. He and Ryunashi were wrapping things up and heading back to the precinct to finalize some reports and input a few samples into the lab for further testing when Bakuryuu felt something strange.

Now strange wasn't exactly an uncommon word amongst the Tadashi. They solved crimes committed by _ninja_ (and civilians) for a living; strange might as well be their middle name. But this was a different kind of strange, a kind of strange that was felt and not seen or heard as was more common.

"What is it, Bakuryuu?" his brother asked.

"I don't know," he murmured in answer, frowning seriously in the direction he could feel the strangeness. He concentrated a bit and felt his stomach twist. _Hotaru_ was near it. Kikyo too. And two people whose chakra he didn't recognize that kinda felt like— "Mist ninja!" he gasped, breaking into a run immediately. Ryunashi didn't ask any questions, but rather started to run along beside his brother.

Bakuryuu thought he was running at his top-speed. He really did. But then he sensed an explosion of chakra came from ahead of them, the kind that only nine beings in all of creation could give off. And when he sensed that intense, mind-numbing, frightening thickness that was Biju chakra coming from a place near Hotaru… well, three guesses as to what he concluded must be happening.

And _then_ Bakuryuu suddenly found himself running _at least_ twice as fast as he had been seconds before. He ran so hard that he could _feel_ the strain in his legs but dammit he didn't care. Hotaru was in danger, serious danger, and he wasn't about to just lope along like an idiot while his darling little princess needed him. No way in hell.

Then the Biju chakra vanished abruptly and Bakuryuu's stomach twisted in a way that made him want to vomit. But with it gone, he could sense the chakra in the surrounding area and that only made it worse because of what he could now feel. Or rather, what he _couldn't_ feel now: Kikyo and Hotaru.

All the wind left his lungs and terror gripped his heart and he concentrated harder than he'd ever concentrated before. And then he could sense it. It was low and fading, but Kikyo's chakra was right around where the Sanbi's had blossomed just moments before.

They arrived on the scene mere seconds later to find Kikyo on the ground and in a very bad way. Her face was covered in blood as was her chest… and the grass… and the trees… Ryunashi's face got so dark that it probably would have scared _Mother_ if she'd been there. "She's still alive," he told the other man. That was all the father had to hear before he was kneeling next to the girl, utilizing the medical knowledge in his arsenal to try and save his little girl's life. "You radio it in, I'm going to get Hotaru." He started to take off when his brother's voice stopped him.

"Bakuryuu?" Ryunashi's voice was quiet and held so much deadly threat in it that there probably wasn't a person alive who wouldn't have felt at least a little frightened by it. "Slow and painful."

A shadow came over the normally nice man's face. "I don't know if I can do slow with Hotaru there. How about _fast_ and painful?"

"As long as it's painful."

As if Bakuryuu had intended for anything less. He locked on to Hotaru's chakra, which was thankfully still there, but low as if she was unconscious, as well as that of the soon-dead assholes who had _dared_ to touch _his_ daughter and niece.

It took longer than he wanted, but not as long as it probably should have for him to catch up with the two dead bastards who had Hotaru. Fortunately, he could sense Hotaru beginning to rouse which meant she wasn't hurt too badly. Unfortunately, that meant that he would have to be really careful so she didn't see anything too bad and get traumatized for life.

And then the most wonderful thing happened, he could sense Hotaru somehow managed to _get away_ from the Mist Ninja and run in his general direction. Bakuryuu ran straight to her. She screamed when he jumped down from the tree but then her face brightened up and he could see immediate relief. "Daddy!" she launched herself at him. And then the waterworks started and he heard her whimpering about Kikyo being hurt and those 'mean men' and something else he couldn't really understand.

"It's okay now, Hotaru," Bakuryuu told her, setting her down in front of him and giving her a very serious look. "Ryunashi is with Kikyo and she'll be taken straight to the hospital. She should be fine in a couple days, Tadashi are just strong like that."

"But-but D-daddy."

"Shh. It's all going to be okay darling. But first I need you to do something for me, okay?" The Mist ninja were getting close.

"W-what?"

"We're going to play a game."

"A game?! But Daddy those men are nearby and-and Kikyo—"

"It's an important game," he told her.

"Games aren't important, Daddy!"

"Sure they are! It's even an easy game."

"But Daddy—"

He picked the girl up and took a few steps over, plopping her behind a tree. "Just close your eyes and count to ten. Okay?"

"But Daddy—"

"If you do that then we'll go straight home and I'll even buy you dango."

"But _Daddy_ those men—"

"Hotaru, sweety, do you trust me?" The Mist ninja burst on the scene but slid to a stop at the sight of the jounin.

"Of course I do, Daddy!"

"Then close your eyes for me and count to ten. Count out loud for Daddy, okay?"

"But… okay…" Hotaru's little lip was trembling and she looked worried and scared and it just ripped Bakuryuu's heart out. But that was okay because he was about to rip the bastards responsible for her fears' hearts out. Her little eyes scrunched up and she even put her hands over them. "One…"

"You're Bakuryuu Tadashi, aren't you?"

"Two…"

"Sorry, I don't have much time to talk."

"Three…"

Bakuryuu's face grew dark and he rushed forward faster than these two jokes of jounin could probably see and kicked one in the stomach and grabbed the other by the neck. Man one went flying and crashed so hard into a tree that it rattled while he pulled man two over his shoulder and slammed his face into the tree. A little bit of a payback for whatever they'd put Kikyo through. But the real pain had yet to come.

"Four…"

A flick of his wrist and a kunai was in his hand which he used to swiftly and effectively cut man two's tongue out. It wouldn't do to let Hotaru hear them scream now would it? A little katon and he didn't even get blood all over his hands. Good because he'd have to pick his sweet little angel up in a moment and he didn't want this bastards disgusting blood getting on her.

Man one's shout of "Ringo!" almost drown out Hotaru squeaky little "Five…" That wouldn't do, Bakuryuu needed to be able to keep up with the count so he knew before Hotaru opened her eyes!

He threw man two down and stomped hard enough on his leg to break it so he would be able to get up and run away. Plus it was payback for poor little Kikyo's arm – with the way it had been twisted, one of these bastards had likely broken it. He let out a strangled cry of pain.

Man one's face had drained of color and he started to try to run away, but Bakuryuu was so much faster than he was.

"Six…"

Before he could shout anything, his tongue was removed as well. Bakuryuu slammed his back into the tree, holding onto his neck so tight that the other man probably couldn't breathe. He leaned in and whispered. "You should have known better than to mess with the Tadashi clan. Now you're going to have to learn better the hard way. Maybe your deaths will discourage future plans. Or maybe you won't be the last pursuers I kill."

"Seven…"

Bakuryuu didn't have much time left so he brought his hand up to Naraku's hilt. The blade was practically singing with anticipation as he pulled it free. Its massive killing intent flooded the area and for a second the man worried about Hotaru only to feel the Sanbi's chakra react in response, shielding her from it. Dammit, he wasn't supposed to have to be grateful to the damned thing that had caused his angel so much suffering!

"Eight…"

 _Later Bakuryuu._ He swiped Naraku out and across the man's legs. Horrified and frightened cries escaped him as his flesh began to rot away on contact. Bakuryuu tossed him aside, the man was doomed to death within the next few minutes.

"Nine…"

The other Mist ninja was quickly dealt the same fate before Bakuryuu slid Naraku back into its sheath – _"Only two?"_ it whined – and knelt in front of Hotaru.

"Ten." Her eyes opened and looked up at his face, wise and surprised. "Daddy… what just happened?" Little tears were gathered in the corners of her eyes.

He kissed her forehead and picked her up, careful to hide her face in his chest. With his chakra swirling like it was, she probably wouldn't be able to see the mess behind him, Byakugan or not. "I just took care of those men, sweety. It's all going to be all right now."

Then he leaped into the trees and took off before Hotaru could catch even a glimpse of the two men rotting away on the ground. He kept his chakra sense on them until there was no chakra left to sense. A bit of satisfaction swirled in his chest as he knew beyond a doubt that those two particular bastards were never going to threaten his sweet angel ever again.

It wasn't until they were approaching where he'd left Ryunashi – where he could sense a small gathering of ninja – that he realized a question he should have already asked. "Hotaru, sweety, how did you get away from those guys?"

"Hm?" She looked up at him and gave him a serious face that was too adorable to take seriously. "They forgot to tie me back up so I pretended to still be out and then kicked the one guy in between the legs. Then I ran away."

"That's my girl. Just remember not to do that to Daddy."

"I'm not _Kikyo_ ," she answered with a quiet giggle that faded into a morose expression. "Is she really okay, Daddy? Those mean men hurt her bad."

"She'll be okay. Kikyo's a tough little mongrel." He kissed her forehead and stretched his senses toward the hospital to reassure his own lingering worries. But she was still alive and her condition was a bit better than a little while before so he was sure she'd pull through. A one in a million chance was just about all most Tadashi needed, and Kikyo really was a tough little bugger.

"Bakuryuu! Hotaru!" the relieved voice of the Fourth Hokage greeted them as Bakuryuu landed in the midst of the ninja. "You're both all right." The blonde gave them a relieved smile.

"I think Kiri drastically underestimated the Tadashi clan," Bakuryuu told them. "Those two were no-names on the lower end of the jounin level. No trouble at all. I'm gonna take Hotaru on to the hospital to make sure she's as okay as she looks and I'll report in after."

"All right. Well I guess the rest of you can go home now."

~ Jinchuriki ~

"We're here~!" Daddy exclaimed _way_ too loudly as he suddenly swung the door to Kikyo's room open with his foot. His arms were full of stuffed animals, flowers, candy, and balloons. Momma, Tsubaki, and Hotaru stared blandly at the man, their expressions mimicked by Kikyo and Izumi-oba in the room. Tsukiko, who was perched on her father's shoulders, threw her little hands in the air.

"We hewe!"

"Hush you two!" Momma shushed. "We're in a hospital!"

"Dummies." Tsubaki shook her head and gripped her mother's hand as they followed the loud duo into the room.

"They mean well," Hotaru told her milder sister with a smile, but it slid right off her face when she saw her cousin. "Hi." She felt awful seeing Kikyo like this. It was her fault after all, those guys were after her.

"Haha! Kiko wook wike a mummy!" Tsukiko went into a fit of giggles as her father placed all the stuff on the bed before letting his toddler down.

"Bakuryuu." Izumi lifted an eyebrow at him.

"What?" Her eyes darted to all the stuff then back to him with an almost scolding expression. "What?! My niece is in the hospital and I can't get her a few get well gifts?!" He held his arms up in defense.

"No, I expected a few presents… just not a stuffed animal army."

"I hewped pick them owt!" The bubbly green haired toddler waved her arm back and forth, very proud of herself.

"I bet you did, Sweety." Izumi smiled and picked her up to set her in her lap.

Momma searched the room. "Where's Ryunashi? I would expect him to be here right now."

Izumi-oba got a very _dark_ look. "I wouldn't, not if he expects to continue on with his existence." Uh oh, Ryu-oji was in trou~ble.

"Uh oh~, what could he possibly have done?" Momma almost had to back up from the expression.

"Come on, let's get some coffee from down the hall." She stood and placed the toddler next to Kikyo as the two women exited the room, already whispering before the door shut behind them.

"Oh no Ryunashi, what have you done?" Daddy cringed in sympathy.

"I dunno." Kikyo shrugged.

What a great help she was.

"Anyway!" Daddy clapped his hands together enthusiastically. "Let's move on to something else! We got candy and toys so let's play!"

"Kiko?" Tsukiko held out a folded piece of paper with crayon scribbles all over it. "I made you a cawd!" She held it out excitedly. "Hewe is be hawt an be booboo band aide an hewe's me an you an 'Baki an Howu-nee an Hanji!" She pointed to all the scribbles. "Howu-nee is giving Hanji a piggy ride, see?"

Daddy just melted. "Isn't she a fantastic little artist~?!"

To be honest, it was all just a bunch of scribbles in grays and blues to Hotaru.

"Tsubaki has one too." Hotaru pointed to her white haired sister. "Come on Tsubaki, tell her what it says."

The white haired toddler blinked up at her cousin then down at her card then back again. "Haha, you wost," the two year old said in the most blunt tone. Everyone in the room froze for a second, feeling the temperature drop.

Kikyo's eyebrow twitched, broke arm or not she was about to throw the two year old out the window.

"Oh look at that!" Daddy checked his bare wrist nervously. "It's time for a potty break!" He scooped the to-be-doomed child up and carried her outside the room.

"Wait Daddy! I have-a potty too!" Tsukiko toddled/ran after her father and twin before he loudly shut the door behind them.

"You're sister's gonna get it." Kikyo's eyebrow continued to twitch.

"She's _two_ Kikyo."

"I don't care." She tried to cross her arms, pouting.

"Are you okay?" Hotaru fiddled with her fingers and avoided eye contact.

"Yeah, I've had worse."

 _Oh yeah, I bet,_ Hotaru thought sarcastically.

" _ **I'm available for proving her wrong."**_

 _Why would I want to do that?!_

"What about you? How'd you get away? Did they hurt you?"

"They didn't get far. Daddy saved me." Hotaru sat on the side of the bed and hugged one of the teddy bears and pet its head.

Maybe Kikyo had missed those guys calling her _that_ name?

"Oji?"

"Daddy's stronger than he looks Kikyo." Hotaru gave her a stern look. She better not be about to insult Daddy after everything he did!

"Whatever," She rolled her eyes. "I'm just glad those asses didn't get away with it."

"Yeah," she murmured half-heartedly. All this talk about the other day was bound to remind Kikyo about what those guys were calling her and… well Kikyo wasn't nice, but Hotaru didn't exactly have her pick of friends so she didn't want to lose the few she had. Plus it would make family dinners kinda awkward…

She pouted a little and went for some of the candy Daddy brought. It was more than Kikyo could eat, and Hotaru needed some comfort food.

"Hotaru?" The girl in question looked up, mouth full of chocolate. "What's a Jinchuriki?" Hotaru flinched immediately and looked away, swallowing all the candy.

Here it came, time to fess up.

"Never mind, it doesn't matter." Kikyo shrugged and reached for some of her candy.

Hotaru sighed. "I guess you should know. You'll probably just ask Ryu-oji or Izumi-oba or Kitsune-san anyway… Jinchuriki means _the power of human sacrifice_ in an old language."

"That's very helpful, thanks," she snarked.

"I wasn't done yet." Hotaru huffed. "It's a special term used to describe a special kind of person."

"We all knew you were _special_ , Hotaru."

"Kikyo! Stop interrupting!" She scowled at her cousin. Why did Kikyo have to be so difficult?! Didn't she realize that this was hard enough?! "A Jinchuriki is a person that has a demon sealed inside them."

She sighed again and wouldn't meet Kikyo's eyes anymore. She couldn't, she didn't know if she could stand those cold eyes in Kikyo's face. Sure, Kikyo was mean and all, but those eyes… they were on a whole different level.

"There are nine demons and so nine Jinchuriki," she continued. "The demons are also called biju – you've heard of one: the Kyubi no Kitsune."

And here it comes…

"Wait, _you're_ —"

Ugh, of _course_ she'd make that leap first. And Kikyo called _her_ the dumb one.

" _No_ , Kikyo. _That_ Jinchuriki was a _newborn_ , I would have been about four months old. The demon sealed inside me is the Sanbi no Kyodaigame."

"So… you have a turtle in you?"

"…yes. Basically."

"And they wanted the turtle?" Hotaru nodded. " _Why_?"

"Because biju are powerful. They're beings made entirely of chakra. You've heard about the Kyubi, all biju are just as strong."

Hotaru sighed. Any second now, Kikyo was going to go off and call her a monster or a demon or say she didn't want to play with her anymore…

"You jerk!" Kikyo threw one of the stuffed animals at her cousin and hit the other seven year old in the face.

And here it comes. Hotaru drew in on herself.

"Do you even _realize_ how much harder I'm going to have to train now?! Just to make sure I can match that?!"

"…Wait, what?"

"The power of the Kyubi?! Seriously, like this week couldn't get any worse!" Kikyo exclaimed as she threw her arms up in the air. "And now I can't even fucking train because of this fucking cast!" She waved her broken arm like it was the worst thing in the entire world.

"Bu-but I can't actually use—you're not gonna call me a demon?" It made no sense. Why wasn't she reacting like everyone else?

"Why the hell would I do that? Seriously Hotaru, of the two of us _I'm_ the more demonic one."

"B-but I… b-but you… b-but…"

"Now toss me the fucking chocolate! I need comfort food."

"B-but… o-okay…"

~ Bad News ~

Bakuryuu was rather rudely awoken in the middle of the night by loud, persistent knocking. He opened his eyes groggily and made a few incoherent noises, but Inoue was already on her feet and starting toward the door. "Wait for me!" he exclaimed, hurrying up and stumbling after her, rubbing his eyes as he did.

Apparently neither of them was as quick as Hotaru was though because they had just gotten downstairs when they heard the door open and her greeting the person on the other side, "Mah, Minato-san, what are you doing waking everyone up this late?"

"Minato?" Inoue muttered. "What would he be doing here?" She hurried to the door to the front room and slid it open, stepping up behind her daughter.

"That's a good question," Bakuryuu agreed, stepping in behind her. "Whatcha doin' here at… three in the— Three in the morning?! Why would you wake someone up at this hour?!"

"Hush, Bakuryuu!"

"I've got a bit of news," the blonde announced.

"I'll make some tea," Hotaru announced, starting toward the kitchen.

"Oh no you don't," Inoue caught her and turned her toward the staircase. "The last time you tried to make tea, you just made a mess. No, _you_ are going to bed, young lady. It's way too early for you to be up."

"But Mommy, you're supposed to make tea for bad news!"

"What makes you say it's bad news, Princess?" Bakuryuu asked. "It could be good news!"

"Because Minato-san looks almost sick and because he came at three in the morning," she announced proudly.

"She has a point," Inoue pointed out. "But you're still going to bed, Hotaru. I'll make the tea."

"But Mommy…"

"Go check on your sisters and go to bed."

"Okay." She pouted but did as she was told.

"Come on in, Minato," Bakuryuu urged, gesturing him inside and closing the door behind him. "We can talk in the living room."

"I'll get that tea," Inoue told them, walking over to the kitchen while the men sat down.

Minato sat a bit uneasily. He fidgeted a bit and didn't seem to want to meet Bakuryuu's eyes. Hotaru was right. Whatever news it was that he came with, it wasn't good.

It didn't take Inoue long to return and take a seat next to her husband. "The tea should be ready in a little while. So why don't you tell us why you decided three in the morning was a good time for this?"

The blonde sighed. "You would probably be angry if I hadn't come as soon as possible. Besides, I would prefer you heard it from me than on the street in the morning."

"What? Are we the last to know or something?"

"No, but… well it'll be pretty obvious tomorrow morning."

"Now you're making me nervous," Bakuryuu told him. "What happened?" He gasped. "Did Ryunashi…?"

Minato cleared his throat. "Not from the Curse."

"Oh well that's good – wait, what?"

The blonde rubbed his face and sighed. "I'm very sorry, Bakuryuu, Inoue… but last night…" He took a deep breath and let it out. "Kitsune and Itachi murdered their entire clans."

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?!" the man snarled, on his feet in a moment.

"I'm sorry, I wish it wasn't true."

Minato explained in a grave tone that a ninja had been sent to investigate after a civilian had called an alarm and no Uchiha or Tadashi had shown up and he had discovered the destruction. He had called for backup and it was quickly discerned that the only living people on either compound were Sasuke and Kikyo, the latter of which had been rushed to the hospital and seemed to be in an unbelievable amount of pain. Bakuryuu had been out the door before Minato could explain that Sasuke had identified the culprits as his brother and Kitsune when he'd been awoken from the genjutsu he was in.


End file.
